10 ways Medic is making an impact

We have a successful track record of contributing to society through our research, learning and teaching, and innovation and engagement activity.

Efforts by many staff and students highlight a rich variety of ways in which we're engaging with and benefitting society. Here are just ten recent examples:

Funding a postgraduate taught programme of study is not easy, which is why the School of Medicine, one of the largest providers of postgraduate taught programmes, is increasing funding opportunities for a range of its postgraduate taught programmes.

The following programmes offered 100% bursaries/scholarships in September 2018:

The newly launched MSc/PgDip in Clinical Leadership and Leading Change in Cardiology, supporting healthcare professionals to make sustainable and effective changes within the workplace.

MSc in Pain Management.

PgCert, PgDip and MSc in Pain Management (Primary and Community).

MSc for Palliative Medicine for Health Care Professionals.

It is anticipated that the PGT Team will continue to seek this support for future programmes. For information on the latest funding opportunities available for the September 2019 intake please contact: pgtmedadmissions@cardiff.ac.uk

The BSc programme in Medical Pharmacology has introduced an optional Professional Placement Year (PPY). Placements will be undertaken between the second and final year in industry (pharmaceutical), government/university research laboratories or similar suitable organisations. They will provide students with significant insight into the career opportunities available to them.

Importantly, students can choose to stay in the UK or travel to Europe or beyond. Placements aim to provide students with an understanding of how data is analysed, new information is acquired in a research setting and, depending on location, how a business organisation is run. Ultimately, the PPY will provide invaluable “employability skills” that will bolster future career prospects, increasing competitiveness in the toughest of work markets.

Launched in 2017, the Emergency, Pre-hospital and Immediate Care (EPIC) intercalated BSc has produced excellent research outputs from its first cohort of students. These include Ms Charlotte Maden’s research project on ‘Dynamic Simulation Modelling of Trauma in an Emergency Department in Wales’ which came third at a UK Trauma Conference and winning the All Wales School Emergency Medicine Research prize, beating off competition from both Emergency Medicine middle grades and consultants. Four students, (Charlotte Maden, Dylan Mistry, Emily Baker and Sara Pradhan (Medicine 2013-)) were also accepted to present posters at the European Society for Emergency Medicine Conference.

In 2018, the cohort has risen by 2 to 12 and two new Emergency Departments, Morriston Hospital in Swansea and Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny are on board with delivering this programme.

Next year, agreements are in place to expand to 16 students at various locations around Wales.

In September 2018, the PG Diploma celebrated 10 years of equipping healthcare professionals with the latest clinical information on diabetes and diabetic complications as seen in practice.

Aimed at future leaders and innovators in diabetes management in both primary and secondary care settings, the course has supported the career development of more than 1,000 healthcare professionals caring for people with diabetes from more than 20 countries around the world.

Dr Shalini Jaggi (PgDip 2015), Consultant and Head, Dr Mohans’ Diabetes Specialities Centre, New Delhi, India completed the diploma in 2015 and said “The course is intensive, very comprehensive as well as interesting and enjoyable. The interactive mode of learning opens new vistas and gives a global experience, providing an in-depth knowledge on all aspects of diabetes. I strongly recommend this course to all clinicians who manage diabetes to empower themselves with the latest tools and skills provided by this diploma that enables them to deliver scientific, evidence-based diabetes care to their patients and community. The academicknowledge gained through this diploma has boosted my confidence and helped me establish myself as a respected clinician, faculty and key opinion leader in diabetes in my city as well as country!”

The MBBCh has just welcomed its newest cohort of students who have committed to studying partly through the medium of Welsh. The numbers of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol Scholars have shot up from 4 to 34 since the scholarship was introduced in 2015-16, with students seeing value in continuing their Welsh medium education whilst studying medicine.

Miss Awen Iorwerth (MBBCh 1994), Clinical Lecturer and Lead for Welsh Medium Provision said “This is an exciting time for Welsh speaking students to join us. Not only can we facilitate Case Based Learning and SSC projects in Welsh, following a successful pilot, students can now access Welsh medium clinical communication skills sessions. Students are seeing the benefit of using their bilingualism on placements across Wales’.

HealthWise Wales (HWW) is a unique cohort study and resource for researchers. We are engaging people age 16+ from across Wales to participate in research by answering questions about their physical and mental health, and lifestyle. 27,000 people have already signed up and contributed their data for health and social care research.

HealthWise Wales supports research in a number of ways:

HWW can support data collection by hosting questionnaire modules on the HWW Platform and linking participant data to healthcare records (through the SAIL Databank).

HWW can email all participants/targeted participants about research studies to promote recruitment to these studies.

Researchers can access data held in the HWW data repository, which can include routine healthcare data that is available through record-linkage.

The Vice-Chancellor has received one of China’s most prestigious awards in recognition of the School of Medicine’s longstanding contribution to the development of China’s capital city, Beijing.

Professor Riordan said: “It is a tremendous honour to receive such a prestigious award on behalf of the University.”

The University’s historical links with Beijing can be traced back to 1999 when it first partnered with Peking University. This partnership has since developed culminating in the establishment of the Cardiff - Capital Medical University (CMU) Joint Centre for Biomedical Research in 2013. The joint venture has resulted in some 91 scholar exchanges, more than 60 student exchanges, and collaborative research into the causes of and treatment for cancer.

Professor Riordan added: “I am proud of the links that we have developed with CMU, in Beijing and across China."

Professor Catherine Robinson, PÂR academic lead, and Bethan Edwards, member of the public, submitted the winning project ‘Partnership in Research for the National Centre for Mental Health (PÂR-NCMH)’ at the 2018 Health and Care Research Wales conference.

The initiative creates opportunities for mental health service users and carers to be actively involved in research across Wales.

Bethan said: “I’m delighted that PÂR has won this year’s Public Involvement Achievement award. The NCMH has worked incredibly hard over the last year to ensure PÂR and public involvement is embedded within the centre.”

“As a member of PÂR, I’m looking forward to developing and increasing public involvement in mental health research with the NCMH.”

A new research centre aimed at finding effective treatments for dementia officially opened at Cardiff University. The Cardiff centre is one of six that together make up the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI). More than 70 scientists from around the world have been recruited to the centre with the aim of expanding the group to 100 in the near future.

UK DRI at Cardiff will build upon research strengths in dementia genetics; immunology; computational analytics; cellular and whole system modelling; and neuroimaging to identify disease mechanisms and therapies for a range of dementias including Alzheimer’s disease.

Professor Julie Williams (BSc 1978, PhD 1987), Director of the UK DRI at Cardiff University, said: “With a new case of dementia diagnosed somewhere in the world every four seconds we aim to bring about a step change in the way we study this set of diseases.”

Dr Emma Yhnell (BSc 2012, PhD 2016) from the Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI), School of Medicine was one of seven inspiring speakers at TEDxCardiffUniversity. Sharing insight of personal experiences, Emma discussed research into genetic disorders and the challenging ethical dilemmas that are associated with this area of research. TED is a non-profit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks.

Today TED covers almost all topics - from science to business to global issues - in more than 100 languages. Independently run TEDx events, like TEDxCardiffUniversity, help share ideas around the world.

You can find TEDxCardiffUniversity on the Cardiff University YouTube page.